Shatter
by Ichigo1010
Summary: Because no matter how hard one might try, they'll never be invincible. R&R
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey lovelies! This is _And so It Shattered_'s remake _Shatter_. Tell me what you guys think! I really think that this is better than the first, but you be the judge :D

For my new readers: welcome and enjoy!

Not Beta'd!

***Note:** this does _not_ mark the beginning of the weekly updates. I just thought that I'd go ahead and get out the first chapter. Weekly updates will start soon though.

**Disclaimer: **Don't confuse yourself into think that I actually _do_ own it, k?

**OoOoO**

It's a little known fact that Mikan Sakura is an adopted child, picked up from an old orphanage at the age of six by a kind old man that wanted a child with a cheerful disposition and a smile. It was even lesser known that the little girl had excellent hearing and knew how to sneak around very well – that she had overheard what kind of child the man was looking for while talking to the caretaker and that she also knew how to act. And act she did, because the moment that old man Sakura walked through the door, a little girl with shining hazel eyes and pigtails bounded up to him, a large smile on her face.

"Hi there!" she greeted sweetly. "Are you here to adopt someone? My name is Mikan! I'm six."

So maybe she was a little straight forward with her introduction, but in the end it worked out perfectly as the person in front of her bent down to her level and gave a kind smile.

_This_ was what he was searching for.

"Is that so?" he asked her softly and Mikan nodded her head up and down, pigtails swinging with the motion.

"Yup!"

"Well then, Mikan-chan. You're right: I am here to adopt somebody. Now tell me… how would you like to be that child?"

"W-wait Sakura-san," the old caretaker interjected from behind with a wide-eyed look at the little girl. She was probably wondering where the silent and stoic girl had gone but Mikan didn't blame her. It had to be shocking to see such a drastic change when just minutes before she had been standing alone, frowning and glaring at anything that moved and even things that didn't. "Aren't you being a little bit too hasty? This child-"

"Is perfect," the old man finished for her and waved her off with the request for the adoption paperwork. There was a moment's hesitation, but eventually the caretaker nodded and walked off.

The old man mistook the triumphant spark in Mikan's eyes as surprise, the slight quirk of her lips as happiness at the prospect of having a family and not one of amusement that she was able to manipulate him so easily.

"So, Mikan-chan, would you like to come home with me?"

With a blinding smile she nodded her head again.

"I would _love_ that mister!"

And so the story begins.

**Chapter 1**

_[He was looking for a little girl with a large smile and friendly personality. According to the old man, she didn't have to be "very smart, just sweet" and he was hoping for a child around the age of six. That was perfect. Because Mikan had just turned six herself._

**OoO**_  
><em>

_She was in her new home now and Mikan was practicing various expressions in front of the mirror: smiles, pouts, and tears on-command. Mikan wasn't used to making such faces just yet.  
><em>

_"Mikan-chan!" a voice called from just outside her door and the child jumped in surprise. "Dinner is ready. Have you finished unpacking?"_

_"A-ah! Yes Ouji-san! I'll be out in a minute!" she replied loudly and trotted to the door, opening it with a large smile._

_The old man who had just adopted her stood behind it and smiled widely at her._

_"How do you like your new home, Mikan-chan?" he asked nicely._

_Mikan smiled blindingly._

_"I love it!"_

_"Good. Now, let's eat."_

_"Okay!"_

_Ah. How easy it was to manipulate a person…]_

**OoOoO**_  
><em>

8:20 a.m.

Mikan sat up and hit the off button on her alarm clock before it could even start ringing, the red glowing numbers telling the drowsy fifteen-year-old that she had ten minutes before class began.

"Oh no. It looks like I'll be late again..." she drawled with a lazy smirk, uncaring as she paused to yawn and climbed out from her warm cocoon of blankets and off of her bed. Her bare feet touched a lush carpeted floor and she slowly began making her way to her bathroom.

"I had that dream again. Or should I call it a memory?" she murmured to herself and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she slid open the door to her bathroom and carpet changed to tile. "That's the third time this week. An omen perhaps...?"

Mikan stopped in front of the marble bathroom counter and inspected herself and pushed the previous subject from her head so that she could concentrate on the current matter at hand.

"Tch," she murmured in displeasure, staring at her reflection in the mirror. The girl looking back at her had rings under her eyes, a tangled mess of hair and an almost completely blank expression. Mikan's creamy pale skin was smooth as ever but her eyes lacked their usual sparkle, instead replaced by cold and calculating, uncaring orbs - her lips were turned down in a frown. Mikan looked nothing like the cheerful sunny girl that the majority of Gakuen Alice had come to know.

This was more like the real her.

Mikan would have preferred to simply skip school that day and leave it at that or go to class in the afternoon, but little-miss-sunshine didn't miss class without a good reason and at the moment she could think of none. And not having an excuse would not work: appearances had to be kept. Appearances _would _be kept.

She gave her reflection another long stare.

"_This_," she told herself finally, "will most certainly not do."

With skilled fingers she ran her fingers through her hair, unknotting the long auburn locks before running over them with a brush and pulling it up into a ponytail whose end brushed at her hips. Next she dabbed concealer under her eyes, making the dull hazel look slightly more alive as the dark bruises disappeared. Her winter high school uniform came on next and Mikan was almost ready but not quite.

"And now for the finishing touch…" she whispered to herself.

Frowning lips twitched upward and dark hazel eyes gained light and sparkled in the fluorescent light. The mask had been put on and Mikan smiled sweetly.

"I'm ready!" she chirped.

**OoOoO**

8:35 a.m.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Mikan's apologetic cry was heard all throughout class B and every head in the room turned to look at the girl with varying expressions: some of amusement or exasperation, most of annoyance or distaste.

_'Jerks,'_ Mikan thought with an internal scowl.

"My alarm clock didn't go off this morning and-" she began to babble but was cut off by a low growl.

"Silence, Sakura-san," Jinno sneered at her and Mikan stopped talking immediately. "Late again I see. How… predictable of you."

Piggish eyes narrowed behind spectacles and he slowly began circling her, tapping his Alice conductor against his leg as he did so. The frog on his shoulder croaked loudly and Mikan flinched at the sound. The rest of the class was completely silent.

_'Wow guys,'_ came her sarcastic thoughts, _'Thanks for defending me!'_

He was passing judgment, Mikan knew – trying to decide how much detention to give her for being tardy again. Jinno stopped after a moment and Mikan looked down at the ground nervously.

She was such a good little actress.

The tenth grader wondered vaguely what they would all think if they knew that instead of shame, what she was really feeling was the urge to tear someone's head off. They would probably be shocked.

"Seven days."

Mikan's head snapped up in disbelief.

Part of it was real.

_'Are you freaking kidding me?'_

"W-what?" she stuttered.

"I said that you have seven days of detention. Is there something wrong with that, Sakura-san?" Jinno asked lowly, eyes narrowed in a glare.

_'Hell yeah there is!"_

Her hands twitched into fists and with control only obtained by years of practice, Mikan did not fight back and a resigned look passed over her face as she shook her head.

"No, sir," she whispered.

"Good. Now go to your seat, _girl_."

_'Jerk.'_

"Yes, sir."

The day had begun much the same as every day before.

_'I hate this place,' _she thought with a slight frown.

Mikan smiled at Hotaru as she passed by her seat. She didn't smile back.

_'Predictable.'_ Mikan thought with annoyance before she blinked, seeing a booted foot shoot out of the aisle just as she lifted her foot to walk past. _'Ah… time to fall, I guess. A clumsy fool would after all...'_

"Oomph!" her breath rushed out all at once as she hit the floor and hazel eyes narrowed as they followed the leg upward to see it attached to a smirking Sumeri Shouda.

"A little unsteady on your feet, aren't you?" the green haired girl mocked, grinning.

_'I saw that a mile away, idiot. How is tripping someone who _let_ you trip them an accomplishment?'_ Mikan sneered internally.

On the outside: "Haha, I'm clumsy, ne?"

Permy just snorted and looked away.

"What an idiot," someone whispered with a snicker.

"Shh! She might hear you!" another whispered back.

"So?"

Mikan just kept walking and five second later she slid into her seat by a sleeping Natsume Hyuuga, a manga blocking the light from his eyes. Her heart fluttered slightly but Mikan immediately squashed the sensation. She narrowed her eyes slightly in disgust before greeting him.

"Good morning, Natsume!"

"Leave me alone, stupid girl," was his grumbled reply. "You're annoying."

"A-ah. Okay. Yeah. I am pretty annoying, aren't I?"

Natsume didn't deign her with a response and she dismissed the uncomfortable twist of her stomach at his blatant rejection on the lack of breakfast. Blocked as his vision was, Natsume didn't see her smile dim slightly and her eyes dull, if only a little, as some of her true self showed.

_'Rude as always I see.' _Mikan mused. _'Just because he's the most handsome guy in school – er, according to everyone else I mean - he thinks that he can do whatever he wants. Why do I put up with him again? Oh. Wait, I know why: because that's what an idiot would do. Make friends with the biggest ass in school.'_

With a small sigh, she took out her notebook from her desk along with a mechanical pencil and began scribbling down chemistry notes that eventually turned into childish doodles, because that's what an "idiot with the intention span of a brain-dead squirrel" (as Hotaru liked to called her) would do.

_'Hotaru… I hate her too. She rude and condescending and abusive – she blackmails people and hits me with that damned Baka Gun and makes me pay ridiculous fees for the stupidest of reasons.'_

Hazel eyes flickered over to a blond that was currently petting a small white rabbit with a smile on his face.

_'Out of the three, Ruka would have to be the best, but he's still too dense for my tastes – too… innocent. And the rest of this damn school? Are they even worth mentioning? They're assholes and jerks, the lot of them. None of them are worth my time and energy yet I have to deal with them on a day-to-day basis just so that I can keep appearances up. But I will deal with it, because until I reach eighteen or become able to live on my own somehow… Ouji-san can send me back to that terrible orphanage. And if he wants a nice girl who smiles a lot and is always kind, that's what he will get. If he knew the real me I would get sent back in-'_

Mikan never got the chance to finish her thought as she sensed a projectile aimed straight for her head, the air whistling faintly as it passed through. She didn't dodge the roll of papers held in Jinno's hand and a loud smack echoed through the room.

"Itai!" she cried, holding her head and looking up to her teacher with tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

"Pay attention Sakura-san!" he snapped at her and Mikan bit her lip.

_'Kami, what I would give to strangle that man to death…'_ she thought darkly.

"I am!"

"Oh really? Then tell me: what _is_ the chemical formula for Copper(II) Nitrate and how do you make it? Tell me the chemical change that occurs while you're at it."

_'The formula is Cu(NO__3__)__2__ and it forms when copper metal is treated with N__2__O__4__:__[1]_

_Cu + 2 N__2__O__4__ Cu(NO__3__)__2__ + 2 NO,'_ Mikan's brain immediately supplied.

He obviously did not expect her to be able to answer the question if his sneer was anything to judge by and Mikan almost gave him the correct answer just to surprise him. Almost.

"Ah…" she mumbled. "Well… uh…."

"Hah. I knew that you weren't listening. Three days more detention, Sakura-san."

"But sensei-!" Mikan began to protest.

"No buts!" he snapped. "First you are tardy, then you don't pay attention, and now you dare defy me? Leave. Now."

"B-but-"

"That was not a request, you little fool. That was an order. Leave my classroom this instant. Do not worry. Your presence will not be missed."

_'That bastard!'_

"That's not true!" she protested.

Mikan looked around to see no one coming to her defense. They simply watched in silence. Natsume hadn't even bothered to see what was going on and Hotaru tinkered with a new invention. Ruka had his rabbit.

_'I don't believe it. I may hate them, but after everything I did for them… they abandon me?'_

Mikan stood still, feet glued to where she was standing. Shaking. Trying with all of her might to keep from snapping. She looked up, a smile pasted on her face.

"Hotaru, Natsume, and Ruka-pyon don't want me to go. They're my friends." Mikan insisted. "Right?" She looked to the three again with pleading eyes.

All of them were ignoring her still.

_'No way…'_

Jinno laughed as he watched Mikan shake in what he thought was suppressed tears but was really anger. She was so mad. So, so angry and betrayed and…

_'Screw this. Screw being a good kid. Let Ouji-san send me back. I'm not dealing with this any longer. Day after day, week after week, year after year I put up with this kind of crap and worse.'_

"No more," Mikan whispered so softly that she was not heard.

"See Sakura-san?" The teacher jeered, "No one wants you. Not even your friends! So-"

"Shut the _hell_ up you disgusting, slimy, pathetic excuse of a human being! If I hear any more of your damn yammering I think that my ears will start to bleed," Mikan snapped and pinned her teacher with a glare.

All previous shaking was gone and instead of the clumsy, stupid looking girl that had stood before Jinno moments before there was a confident, cold, and graceful girl with intelligent but cruel eyes. He watched in shock as Mikan flipped her hair over her shoulder and placed a hand on her hip as she stared him down.

Jinno flinched as his muddy brown eyes met her flashing hazel. He felt cold all over like he was frozen in ice. Fear. It was an emotion that he hadn't felt in years and even then, not so strong as the fear he was currently experiencing because he knew that those were the eyes of someone who would cripple him without a second thought or regret. But then he remembered just whom he was talking to and snapped out of it.

"What was that Sakura-san?" he roared.

"I said," Mikan told him icily, "Shut. The. Hell. Up."

She laughed at his disbelieving expression.

"What?" she asked. Her voice was ice and steel. "You didn't believe that Mikan Sakura would defy you? That she would treat you with the same malice that you give to her? Think again, _fool_."

Mikan's dark laugh caused some of the students to shiver. She had caught her friends' attention now.

Jinno roared in anger and his arm blurred as he lifted the Alice conductor and shot a large, powerful bolt of lightning straight at Mikan's unmoving form but before it could get within a foot of her, the electricity vanished. Mikan smirked coolly and lifted a hand up to chest level, pointing her index finger at the teacher.

"Tut tut, Jinno-_sensei_. Now that's not the proper way to treat your students…" she shook her head mockingly. "I should teach you a little lesson!"

And with that, the teen returned the lighting tenfold, hitting Jinno square in the chest and causing his body to fly back into the blackboard. The slate cracked upon impact and shards of black stone clinked to the floor as the teachers body slumped against the wall. Energy crackled around his body and Mikan giggled softly, looking at her classmates' wide-eyed expressions.

They were all frozen in horror except for one and Mikan nodded towards the person before searching for sky blue, amethyst, and crimson. She glared at each of her three "friends" long and hard, daring them to stop her. They didn't and just watched in stunned silence and Mikan began walking to one of the large windows in the classroom.

A quick punch rid Mikan of the glass barrier between herself and sweet freedom and she put one foot on the windowsill in preparation to make the three-story drop to the ground.

"Seven minutes."

No one moved.

"Seven minutes and Jinno will die so if you don't want that then I would suggest getting him medical attention now. I don't really care myself so do whatever you want, okay?" Mikan smirked as she saw the teens before her slowly begin to regain brain function as the ramifications of Mikan's words finally sunk in.

"Well…" she said slowly, casually, as if she hadn't just near murdered her teacher, "I'll be going now. Oh, and by the way. Hotaru? Ruka? Natsume? I hate you all."

"Ja ne," she clipped.

And Mikan jumped.

**OoOoO**

**A/N: **And so the first chapter is over. Tell me what you guys think, okay? Review!

Click the button. You know you want to!

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	2. Chapter 2

Almost a 4,000 word chapter this time. Ooh~

Awwwww You guys, your reviews were so, so nice to read and a handful of you made me smile my face off XD

To those of you who preferred the original: thank you for telling me your opinion and for reading the entire first chapter. Hopefully you will continue it and you'll end up liking the remake more...?

To my many Anons: e-mails don't show up if you just type them straight up in reviews you have to put spaces and stuff but I wouldn't recommend doing that either incase some weirdo got a hold of your e-mail address. Also if you are expecting and immediate reply you can't because you're an anon. So... yeah.

People demanding me to update: DON'T. A "please update soon!" or whatever at the end of the review (or as the review for some of you) is fine though. I have a life and I'm taking classes even over the summer for school. I update as I can, okay? I appreciate the enthusiasm but saying stuff like: "update already!" or "You need to update" will not make me move any faster. I work as quickly as I can.

Props to the people who reviewed all three stories: **kat10kat2** and **XxAoiTsukixX**. You guys are awesome!

Extra props to: **XxAoiTsukixX,** **KidTantei**, **Aquamarine Lacus**, **Viola Cain**, and **shiro-kuro neko-nya** for wonderfully amazing reviews

Extra-extra props to: **XxAoiTsukixX** for not only being awesome but submitting what I am pretty sure are two of my longest reviews for two of my remakes stories so far. Also…. You're like my sister-that's-not. Yeah… I'm pretty sure that that made no sense to anyone but me ^^

Okay, I'm done blabbing now. On with the story :D

**OooOooOooO**

**Chapter 2**

_9:00 a.m._

Class B watched numbly as Mikan's form disappeared out the window and Natsume dashed from his chair to look down from where she had jumped.

_'This is the third floor!'_ he thought in alarm. _'And idiot like her would be killed!'_

But instead of the bloody mess he was expecting to find at the bottom all that he saw was Mikan's petite form running away from the building and towards the Northern Forest.

Behind Natsume, Luna Koizumi stood up calmly, eyeing everyone with disgust.

"It's about time Mikan did this. Know your place, scum," she told class B with a sneer and walked to the front of the room, kicked Jinno hard in the ribs once before following Mikan's suit and jumping out the window, shoving everyone and everything in her way and cursing and glaring at anyone that approached.

It was then that class B returned to life and a team of four boys rushed over to their fallen teacher and lifted his body to rush him to the hospital.

Ruka's blue eyes were squeezed tight as he hugged his rabbit and called himself an idiot internally, blaming himself for the incident that had just occurred. If he had just spoken out for Mikan…

Hotaru Just sat in her desk. Shocked. Unmoving.

And Natsume was wondering what the hell had happened, much like the rest of class B. Then, _'I need to follow her. Whatever is wrong with Polka… I need to know.'_

Natsume took the stairs.

**OoOoO**

_9:07 a.m._

Mikan lay in the middle of a clearing on her back, eyes closed and arms and legs spread out. Soft grass tickled her cheek and brushed across her skin as the wind shifted.

The sound of rushing water filled her ears, coming from the nearby waterfall.

Her memories kept on shifting back to what had just happened.

They didn't help her, even though she had helped him.

_'Why?'_

Mikan cursed and sat up abruptly while thrusting her arm out in front of her and sending out a burst of electricity to a large boulder not too far away: the energy crackled around it and the massive rock exploded, pieces of it flying in every direction.

She just watched expressionlessly in response.

"Temper, temper Mikan," a voice chided wryly from behind her and Mikan stood up and turned towards it.

"Hello Luna." Mikan gave a small smile.

Her best friend just frowned in response, her eyes worried before shifting into one of forced enthusiasm.

"Today was awesome, you know? Jinno totally had it coming! And everyone's faces? Man, I wish I had pictures, you know?" Luna laughed loudly, but her cheer was short lived as her expression melted into that of concern and she asked the much-needed question, "Are you okay? I've never seen you lose it like that. Not since well… ever."

Mikan walked slowly to the edge of the lake that the waterfall poured into and stepped onto the surface, using a stolen water Alice to increases the surface tension of the water so that she did not sink.

"Show off," Luna muttered, and Mikan grinned in response before answering her question.

"I'm fine. Really. It's just… I'm sick of being a good girl just because... you know," Mikan lied to her friend smoothly; not wanting to reveal just how betrayed she was feeling.

It was her fault that she was feeling like this anyway. It has been said that if you keep it on to long, one's act can become reality and over the years that slowly began to happen to her. If only a little. Small pieces of Mikan's persona had begun to seep into Mikan's true personality and she found herself actually enjoying herself around her "friends" sometimes when they weren't all being jerks. Which was rare, mind you, but it happened. Mikan had started to fool herself into believing that she _cared_ for those people and that they cared in response.

Today showed her that she was wrong.

She was _such_ an idiot.

Mikan tuned to look at her friend with a slightly strained smile. Luna, unable to follow her friend, waited on the edge.

"I lost control today… but I will never go back to what I was."

"Well…" Luna said slowly, "That's good then. I could tell that they caused you a lot of trouble and pain, you know? You're free! Isn't that great?"

"I know," Mikan agreed with a laugh and then paused to think. "Well, there is a lot of the day remaining and there's no way in hell that I will be returning to class today… do you want to go to Central Town with me or something?"

"Sure. We can-"

The teen broke off and both girls turned to look when they heard the sound of rustling and someone stumbled out of the forest.

Luna narrowed her eyes.

"_You_." She spat. "What to you want, Hyuuga?"

"Polka-" he began.

"Go away," the other girl said simply.

"I won't. I need to talk you…" he sent a glance in Luna's direction. "Alone."

"Mikan won't-"

Said girl held up her hand and Luna went silent is surprise.

"Mikan…?"

"It's okay Luna. I'll humor him. Go… fetch Persona. Tell him what happened, okay?"

"Tch. Fine. But if he's going to be a jerk?"

"I'll kick his ass. I know."

They both grinned.

"Have fun~!" Luna sang with a laugh and walked away.

"So…" Mikan said slowly. "We're alone now. What do you want?"

Crimson eyes searched hazel but could find nothing.

What was he supposed to say to her? How was he supposed to approach someone who was acting the exact opposite of their usual self?

The real question though was whether this _person_ before him who wore Mikan's face but had a violent attitude and a cold expression… was it really her? Natsume wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer.

"You look tired," Natsume said lamely after a moment.

Mikan snorted.

"That happens."

There was a silence between them, which, for once, Natsume broke.

"What happened today, Polka? You- Jinno- Just… What the hell was that?"

"I got tired of dealing with everyone."

"And so you tried to kill Jinno-sensei? And tired of _what_ exactly?" Natsume asked in disbelief. "What the hell? This isn't you! You don't hurt people! You don't hate! You aren't a cruel person! So what the hell is going on?"

"Tired of what?" Mikan screamed at him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm tired of everyone treating me like trash and making fun of me and tripping me and just being ass holes in general! That's what! I don't even like any of you – I just deal with you freaks because I _have _to."

When she was done with her rant, Mikan's eyes went wide.

_'What the-? How does he do that? Until today I have never lost composure and I had finally calmed down. But then he waltzes up, says a few lines and my composure flies out the door just like that?'_

"What is that supposed to mean?" Natsume growled, unintentionally interrupting her thoughts.

"It means that it was all an act you idiot. I'm not a happy fool. I don't believe the best in people. I _like_ to see you all in pain and I would love to be the cause of it. And you know why? I hate every. Single. One. Of. You.

"You all are condescending and rude and cruel and goddamn annoying. You all laugh at me and call me names – push me and burn my hair. Now tell me," Mikan walked towards Natsume and shoved him backwards. "Why wouldn't I hate you when you people obviously dislike me so much?"

Natsume steeled himself against her shove and grabbed her wrist, crimson eyes burning.

"But we don't dislike you. _I_ don't dislike you."

Hazel eyes went wide and Mikan went stiff at his words.

_'Liar,'_ she thought bitterly.

"You goddamn liar..."

Natsume tightened his hand around wrist and pulled her closer to him.

"I'm not," he whispered in her ear. "I'm definitely not, Polka."

Mikan clenched her teeth and ripped her arm from his grasp.

Then she punched him.

"Don't touch me!" she snarled, breathing deeply.

A faint blush dusted her cheeks and she cursed herself mentally.

Natsume watched her from where he now lay on the ground, holding his jaw in surprise.

Mikan… hit him?

"Yes, I hit you," she snapped at him and she clenched her fist as she tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes and relaxed. When she opened them, her expression was carefully blank and her eyes betrayed none of her emotion.

"You read minds?" he asked in surprise.

What next?

"Yes. I do."

She turned and began to walk away.

"I don't have time to deal with you any longer," Mikan said coolly. "Don't ever speak to me again."

A cry of surprise escaped her lips when his large hand grabbed her shoulder and jerked her back. Natsume spun her around to face him.

"I'm not going to leave it at that. Why would you be acting? You really hated us all from the start?" He asked her and a certain amount of hurt entered his eyes at the end.

_'You hated _me_?'_

"That's none of your business, Hyuuga. And yes. I already told you that."

"And me?" he prompted.

"What about you?"

"You always hated me too?"

Mikan looked down and then back up again.

"Yes," she told him simply. "And that is the truth."

So why did she feel like she was lying?

"Now…" Mikan said in a low voice, eyes narrowing and locking on to the unwanted hand placed on her shoulder. "Leave me _alone_!"

A vicious knee landed a blow on Natsume's stomach and the teen doubled over, coughing with the wind knocked out of him, only to have his arm jerked behind his back and be pinned to the ground. It was so easy to catch him off guard... he still didn't expect for her to even _try_ to hurt him, did he? Mikan stood up and looked down at him with disdain.

"The Mikan you know is dead and gone," she informed cruelly.

Climbing to his knees, Natsume watched her turn and walk away.

"Polka!" he shouted, trying to catch his breath even as he tried to stop her from leaving. "Wait!"

But she kept walking, ignoring Natsume completely and putting one foot in front of the other with out stop.

"Polka!" he tried again. No response. He clenched his teeth, breathing harshly and tried another tactic.

"Mikan!"

The call was loud and the sound of her name ripped from his throat as he tried to make her listen to him. Would she listen?

Mikan stiffened and faltered in her steps for a moment before she kept walking, but that falter was all that he really needed. A grim smile spread across Natsume's face.

"You're not dead," Natsume said to himself, standing on his feet. "You're still there, aren't you Mikan?"

Her form faded into the trees.

"And I will not just let you leave like this."

A dark chuckle rumbled from behind Natsume and the fire-caster's eyes widened in alarm as he spun.

"Oh," the low voice of Persona murmured. His voice was that of dead leaves scraping across the ground. Natsume suppressed a shiver. "But Natsume, the things is… you will. But not before you get proper punishment for what you have done.

"What the hell?" Natsume hissed in confusion. "What are you going on about you-"

"Oujo-sama spent many years suffering because of you and your friends. But I believe that it was you who she complained about the most. Tch. I never liked you anyway," Persona sneered in the same, foreboding tone. Only this time, his words were laced with threats and steel.

Hearing the threat in his "teachers" voice, Natsume tensed for conflict and was not disappointed when the black-garbed man threw a speed-blurred punch. Narrowly dodging it he leaped back, snarling out an aggravated, "What's your problem?" as he did so.

A noise of distaste.

The wind blew harshly.

Natsume tensed…

And then Persona moved.

A blur of black...

...An unseen fist...

…And then all that Natsume knew was pain and the horrible sensation of not being able to breath.

"My problem, fool, is _you_."

The grip around the fire-casters throat tightened.

A strangled scream ripped through the air.

**OoOoO**

The moment the screaming started, Mikan gave a full body flinch and was glad that no one was around to see her reaction.

_Why was that her reaction?_

She knew what was going on: her servant was angry, and was exacting his revenge on the person who he deemed had caused her trouble the most. And Mikan was all right with that.

Another scream.

Really, she was.

Sounds of fighting. Mikan could hear them even though she was a good hundred or so feet away, fully intending to go to her dorm room.

So what?

The next shout was one of pure agony. Mikan thought she heard a sharp crack that was most defiantly the sound of a bone breaking.

She didn't care though. Not one bit.

_So why the hell was she running back to the clearing now?_

Tree's blurred past her as Mikan ran: dodging, jumping, and flipping over and around any obstacles in her way.

90 feet.

80 feet.

70.

60…

…30…

The forest lightened around her, telling Mikan that the clearing was coming closer. The sounds of fighting continued and she quickened her speed. The trees thinned out and then eventually disappeared, and Mikan ran into the clearing and slid to a halt.

Persona, _her servant_, stood there, lips pulled down into a frown and two or three rips in his clothes. He glanced over at her and then back to the only other person in the area.

Blood ran down the side or Natsume's face, the color matching the violent shade of his eyes. He hugged his arm awkwardly to his chest and Mikan tried to ignore the fact that his uniform was ripped in many more than two or three places and he seemed to be limping a little and, _were those the beginning of bruises around his neck?_

She glanced at the two with cool indifference.

"Persona," she murmured. Her voice was soft, but the command in it was unmistakable. "What is going on here?"

Natsume watched with disbelief as the man swept himself into an elaborate bow, bending down on one knee, one arm behind his back and the other crossed against his chest with his head bowed to the teenage girl who was acting so odd today.

"Oujou-sama," he acknowledged solemnly, "I was merely teaching this boy a lesson."

Cold hazel eyes flickered to meet crimson.

"I can see that." Mikan gave a dismissive flick of her wrist. "Rise," she commanded.

"Yes, Oujou-sama."

Natsume gaped at the two.

"What the fu-"

"You don't need to waste any more energy on this one," Mikan interrupted Natsume smoothly, "he's not worth it."

Persona clenched his fists tightly before relaxing them, obedient.

"Yes, Oujou-sama."

"You may go."

"As you wish."

And he left.

Mikan turned to stare at the injured teen before her now. Harsh sunlight beat down on the two and made it glaringly obvious how badly he had been beat, if the amount of injuries the fire-caster had sustained were anything to go by.

"Hyuuga," she muttered.

"Polka, what was that?" he demanded angrily. "Why the hell was that guy obeying your orders like some kind of dog? Why was he calling you 'oujou-sama'?"

Mikan snorted at him and her lips curved into a cruel smile.

"Because that's what servants do."

Crimson eyes widened in disbelief.

"Servant?"

"Oh, are you deaf now? Or are you just too stupid to understand my words?"

Natsume's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing to say? Heh. How rude… You should be thanking me right now for saving your worthless ass and instead all that you do is stand there and just stare at me."

A moment of silence.

Mikan clicked her tongue. "Still nothing?"

"Hn."

Mikan sneered.

"Oh, yes. Because that was _definitely_ is a proper response."

Natsume looked away, opened his mouth once or twice to say something, but then shut it again before any words were spoken.

Mikan simply stared at him.

"I don't see why I bothered…"

_She really didn't._

"I should have just let him beat you."

_But I couldn't._

"Then why didn't you?" The question was quiet, and Mikan doubted she would have heard it if the forest hadn't been so silent around them, the rushing sound of the waterfall excluded.

This time, it was Mikan who opened her mouth, only to not be able to answer.

Crimson eyes slid to hers.

"Well?"

_"Because when one keeps on an act for too long, they become the act, if only a little. And even though I hate you, I don't want you to be beaten senseless. Even if you do deserve it."_

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but Mikan didn't speak them.

"Hell if I know," she said with a light shrug.

"I don't understand you anymore," Natsume said softly.

His eyebrows were furrowed slightly but other than that his face looked calm. It was only his bloody red irises that gave his deep sadness and confusion away.

The two stared at each other, red versus hazel green, both standing on one side of the small forest clearing.

They were so different.

Mikan crossed the distance between them and Natsume didn't move at all as she came within a foot of him, took his uninjured hand in hers, and closed it around something smooth and cool.

She took a step back.

Natsume opened his hand to see a pale blue Alice stone the size of a large grape in his hand. He looked up at her in confusion and a little bit of disbelief, questions on his lips.

Mikan held up a hand for silence and spoke.

"Don't think that this is kindness on my part. I simply don't want for principal-sama to be angry with me for allowing one of his top agents to be as injured as you are and be unable to do mission. It's a healing Alice. Use it."

She said that, expression and voice icy and uncaring, but they both knew he could have easily gone to the hospital to be healed. Her gift was unnecessary. But she gave it anyway.

_'Hell if I know why,'_ Mikan thought with a scowl.

Natsume snorted, a sad smile curving his lips. He shook his head slowly.

"I _really_ don't understand you anymore."

Mikan cocked her head to the side and delivered a simple truth: "You never did."

And the sad thing was… Natsume was beginning to realize that she was probably right.

And yet…

**OooOooOooO**

Yeah. So I'm gonna give this chapter an awkward cut off right about here ^^

So. What did you think~? For those who already know this story you should already be able to tell that hey: some things have changed! Don't be surprised, I told you this would happen ;)

Review review review! For anons I will start replying at the top of the story, so if you ask questions, you'll get an answer.

Thanks for reading! And once again: _Review!_

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